“Despite being much thinner and lighter, iPhone Air still gets amazing all-day battery life,” Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, said during Apple’s iPhone 17 launch event on Tuesday. “This is incredible — all-day battery life in our thinnest iPhone ever.” Hilariously, seconds later, Ternus revealed the “low-profile” MagSafe Battery accessory for the iPhone Air. “When using them together, iPhone Air has up to 40 hours of video playback! That’s enough to binge on all 40 episodes of For All Mankind, making it a great accessory for long trips.”
Apple didn’t offer battery life estimates for the iPhone Air like it did for the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pros in the keynote’s other segments. For the iPhone 17, Apple said the base model will get up to eight more hours of video playback than the base iPhone 16. Apple also said the iPhone 17 Pro gets up to an “astonishing” 39 hours of video playback.
Anyone watching the live event would have spotted potential red flags in the way Apple chose to portray the iPhone Air’s battery life. After all, battery life was one of the main concerns over the past year, as rumors and leaks said the ultra-thin iPhone Air would feature an ultra-thin battery. However, Apple does offer battery estimates on its website, and they’re better than expected. The iPhone Air will offer battery life on par with last year’s iPhone 16 models without the MagSafe Battery.
iPhone Air battery life explained
Apple offers battery estimates on its iPhone product pages online, as well as comparisons to other iPhone versions. Here are the battery estimates for the iPhone Air battery life, according to Apple:
- Video playback: Up to 27 hours
- Video playback with iPhone Air MagSafe Battery: Up to 40 hours
- Video playback (streamed): Up to 22 hours
- Video playback (streamed) with iPhone Air MagSafe Battery: Up to 35 hours
Here are the battery estimates for the other three iPhone 17 models and the five iPhone 16 models:
Video playback:
- iPhone 17 Pro Max – Up to 39 hours
- iPhone 17 Pro – Up to 33 hours
- iPhone 17 – Up to 30 hours
- iPhone 16 Pro Max – Up to 33 hours
- iPhone 16 Pro – Up to 27 hours
- iPhone 16 Plus – Up to 27 hours
- iPhone 16 – Up to 22 hours
- iPhone 16e – Up to 26 hours
Video playback (streamed):
- iPhone 17 Pro Max – Up to 35 hours
- iPhone 17 Pro – Up to 30 hours
- iPhone 17 – Up to 27 hours
- iPhone 16 Pro Max – Up to 29 hours
- iPhone 16 Pro – Up to 22 hours
- iPhone 16 Plus – Up to 24 hours
- iPhone 16 – Up to 18 hours
- iPhone 16e – Up to 21 hours
The iPhone Air battery will last at least as long as the iPhone 16 Pro battery. As a reminder, last year’s iPhone 16 Pro got a significant battery boost over the iPhone 15 Pro.
iPhone Air battery capacity and endurance
In Europe, Apple has to list energy labels for every iPhone model sold in the region. The documentation includes details that Apple doesn’t offer on the product pages of the iPhone in the U.S. and other regions. For example, the energy labels mention battery endurance per charge cycle and battery capacity, information some buyers might appreciate.
Here are the battery capacities for the iPhone Air, iPhone 17, and iPhone 16 models:
- iPhone 17 Pro Max – 5,088 mAh
- iPhone 17 Pro – 4,252 mAh
- iPhone Air – 3,149 mAh
- iPhone 17 – 3,692 mAh
- iPhone 16 Pro Max – 4,685 mAh
- iPhone 16 Pro – 3,582 mAh
- iPhone 16 Plus – 4,674 mAh
- iPhone 16 – 3,561 mAh
- iPhone 16e – 4,005 mAh
Here are the battery endurance estimates Apple offers in the same documentation for the same models:
- iPhone 17 Pro Max – 53 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 17 Pro – 47 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone Air – 40 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 17 – 41 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 16 Pro Max – 48 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 16 Pro – 37 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 16 Plus – 48 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 16 – 37 hours 0 minutes
- iPhone 16e – 41 hours 0 minutes
According to Apple’s documents, the iPhone Air should offer comparable battery endurance to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16e and exceed the iPhone 16 Pro despite featuring a significantly smaller battery.
